HOW TO EMBRACE BEING AN INTROVERT

Published January 6, 2016

Are you okay? You’re so quiet? Is there something wrong with them? These are questions often fired at those who often stand out of the crowd for all the “wrong” reason. We are often the observers as opposed to the participators sitting silently smiling. Introverts are sometimes judged as being arrogant and obnoxious due to the fact that they are sometimes lost in their own beautiful world.

The term “Never judge a book by its cover” couldn’t be any more fitting in these circumstances. Introverts are some of the most interesting people as they posses knowledge, philosophical thoughts, timeless stories about adventures ventured out alone. We embrace solitude as we are thinkers and feelers. Silence brings us peace and it enables us to evoke moments of self realization with an array of epiphanies about the life we live. On a dark night we would prefer to look up at the sky and gaze upon the vastness of the universe rather than venturing out fulfilling what is considered the social norm. We would rather dive into a mountain of books with a hot cup of coffee, sit with a journal and a pen, paint or venture near a lake or mountain.

I assure you that if you take time out to spark up a conversation with an introvert it will be one of the most compelling you will experience. Some of the most celebrated individuals were introverts such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and J.K. Rowling. Whilst we may be shy and have trouble walking into crowded rooms, we are good listeners, creative, independent and self reflective and we maintain deep and long friendships. There is a quote that resonates with me by Susan Cain “Solitude matters, and for some people it is the air they breathe.”

People can be classified as either introverted or extroverted and sometimes even a bit of both. Each individual is unique and beautiful in their own way. There is no right or wrong way to be and typically introvert and extrovert friendships are the most profound. The extrovert encourages the introvert to do things they may never have done and helps them grow from their comfort zone whereas the introvert encourages the extrovert to view things from a different perspective.

As I sit here writing as a fellow introvert one thing I can say for sure is when an introverts invites you into their world there is so much that they can offer you as much as you can offer them.